In the age of social media, we are no strangers to beauty standards, and seeing them plastered across our screens 24/7. While representation has vastly increased, with TikTok allowing anyone to have a platform, finding “influencers” to connect with and feel embraced might still feel tricky. Diversity in looks is an important aspect, but recently I’ve not felt fulfilled just following someone with the same hair and skin color as me.
Representation matters, in more ways than one, and as I’ve scrolled through my feed, I found it easy to follow people who have similar lives as me, had the same upbringing, and share the same values.
I slowly started transforming my feed into girls, who not only looked like me but people who I would want to have in my personal friend group. I think it’s easy for “influencers” to be considered out of reach to a lot of us, however, when you follow people you would genuinely want to be around your feed shifts. It shifts from a sense of unrealistic beauty expectations to girls who you feel like you could have a relationship with. It feels like when the sweet girls invite you to sit at lunch with them, and you eventually become friends.
1. Paloma:
TikTok: @whor3chata_ IG: c00laquariusg1rl
First of all let me say, that I love a fellow sister who speaks Spanglish. Poloma isn’t too little of a creator anymore with almost one million followers on TikTok. Her lip combos are what primarily inspired me to start going out of my comfort zone when it came to lip products. She owns the shade Cold Brew at NYX and is basically the fairy godmother of lip liners. Listening to her talk is like I’m talking to one of my cousins.
2. Alyssa
TikTok: @lysssalazar IG: @alyssaasalazar_
I love a girl who loves her full-beat makeup look. This is something Alyssa has cracked down to a science, and I live by her formula. Before I used to wear a little blush and a little concealer. While we all look beautiful with any type of makeup, after seeing how she looked with her full-beat, I was hooked. I feel like if you’re trying to find someone with amazing music taste, style, and relatability, this is the girl for you. I love hearing a girl say she’s running late but then proceed to sit down and do her glam. Because that is a very accurate visual representation of myself every morning.
3. Bella
TikTok & IG: Bellarmrz
Bella seems like such a girls girl, so sweet and soft-spoken. I love watching her day-to-day life online. Such little things such as perfume, or lip liner color, make me so happy when people share. They seem so insignificant, however, when another girl shares them, rather than gatekeeping them, it makes me feel like I’m worthy enough of knowing someone’s little beauty secrets. If you ever need a suggestion or honest review for anything, Bella will sure have it somewhere on her account.
4. Andrea
TikTok: @andreaelena666 IG: @andr3aobregon
Drea will teach you how to look so cutesy and have the most flawless makeup ever. There’s something so satisfying about watching someone else do their makeup. Especially after knowing it probably took them a bit longer, but you can watch the transformation in under a minute. It slays. She also seems like the person in a room who would try to attempt to make every girly feel safe and comfortable. I know when one of her in-depth makeup tutorials I’m about to look so stunning because of the way she breaks and explains each step. I don’t have an older sister, but this is what I feel like it would feel to have one.
5. Arcelia
TikTok: @arceliavirrueta IG: @arcelia.virrueta
Let me say this, I have so much appreciation for girls who post their outfits online. Solely because I never know what to wear, it feels like my bff is giving me inspo, and saying “Here girl just wear this”. I’ll be the first to admit, that, conveniently, we have similar styles because I copy all of her outfits! I also love seeing Latina entrepreneurs, so I love to her talk about her jewerly brand, Analia Jewerly. It’s super inspiring to see, you don’t need to be a Kardashian, to start a brand as long as you’re passionate about something.
Seeing these girls, have a following and be influential is comforting. Not that there’s anything wrong with all other influencers, but specifically seeing them thrive, maybe I can also thrive. Maybe we shouldn’t worry about fitting another cookie-cutter lifestyle.